A Second Konoha Christmas
by Lifeofthe6
Summary: Christmas is here again, but Gaara's not feeling to great this year. Will the Kazekage ever find love? GaaMatsu, NaruHina, ChouIno, NejiTen, ShikaTema and hint of KankuKiba also in this story. Rated T for language sorry!


**A Second Konoha Christmas**

Christmastime was approaching the Leaf Village again. Snow, which was a rare occurrence in the area, had heavily blanketed the village this year, much to the dismay of the visiting Sand Siblings from their desert home. The three trudged on towards the home of the Konoha rookie 11. Like last year, Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, Chouji Akimichi, Kiba & Akamaru Inuzuka, Hinata Hyuuga, Shino Aburame, Neji Hyuuga, Tenten, and Rock Lee decided to spend the holidays together in their large mansion-like home. Sai, the talented ninja artist joined them this year instead of Sasuke, who now spends his holidays in Orochimaru's secret lair with Kabuto. Fun, I'm sure.

"No one said it'd be snowing here!" Temari grunted in the cold. Aside from their normal clothing, the three Sand ninja only had scarves to help protect them from the abnormal weather.

"I don't see the problem." said Gaara, who had earlier bought some hot chocolate and was sipping it. A layer of sand helped him cope with the weather.

"Well, I'm sorry, Gaara, but none of us have the ability to turn ourselves into a beach whenever we want." Kankuro retorted. Gaara simply stared back at his brother.

"You're angry." Gaara stated bluntly.

"No kidding, bro. Now let's get a move on, I can see the house at the end of the street."

Naruto spotted the three from atop the roof of the house, where he was busy helping Neji place the lights.

"Hey, you guys made it!" yelled Naruto. He slid down the roof, spilling a large amount of snow on Akamaru, who simply shook it off and barked at Naruto in slight discontent.

"Oh, sorry, Akamaru!" Naruto apologized.

"Hey, Naruto! Long time no see!" Kankuro greeted him with a knuckle touch.

"Same to you guys. Well? How do you like this place? A couple years ago it wasn't much, but after that bastard Sasuke left we've really had a chance to spruce it up!" the Leaf ninja boasted.

"Yeah, it really looks nice." said Temari.

"It's improved since the last time I was here." said Gaara. Kankuro and Temari looked at their brother with confusion, obviously not aware that the Kazekage had been here before. Gaara, realizing he was on the verge of being discovered, quickly changed the subject,

"You've done a good job decorating. We don't have things this elaborate back in the Sand Village."

"Yeah, usually around Christmas we get sandstorms instead of snowfall, so no one can see lights anyways." Temari laughed.

"Well let's stop hangin' around out here! You guys aren't even dressed for this weather, let's get inside!" Naruto motioned for the Sand Siblings to make their way indoors, where they shook off the snow they had accumulated and discarded their scarves.

"Naruto, are you going to leave me to finish this task all on my own up here, or will you be back?" asked Neji right before Naruto went in. Naruto winked and said,

"Nah, I'm sure you can handle it just fine. You're the genius!" Neji sighed and continued putting up lights.

"Oi, Temari-chan!" Shikamaru called from his room. Temari instantly lit up and quickly hurried to him. _And he says girls are troublesome._ Naruto laughed to himself. Kankuro found Kiba, the two did a special handshake, and proceeded to catch up on things. Only Gaara stood alone by the front door, with no one to greet him or have a "special time" with. Naruto noticed this and patted him on the back.

"Ah, don't feel down, Gaara! Those guys are morons, anyways!" he said.

"Yes, but…" Gaara didn't feel convinced, "Shikamaru and Temari are so much in love with each other, and Kankuro and Kiba are best friends. I don't have anyone…" the former one-tailed beast looked down in sorrow.

"Well, you've got me!" said Naruto. This only sent Gaara into a further depression.

"Oh, come on! At least try to have fun, it is Christmas after all!" He then turned towards the kitchen and called, "Hey, Sakura! You got some of those cookies left?" Just then a small box of them flew out of the kitchen, hitting Naruto square on the head and knocking him to the ground. Kankuro, Kiba, and Akamaru witnessed this and exploded in laughter. Naruto went over to give them a piece of his mind and left Gaara alone.

Meanwhile, Ino came in lugging a huge bag of wrapped presents that was almost as big as her.

"Ha! I told you I could do it, Sakura!" she announced. The two kunoichi had a bet that Ino couldn't carry all the presents back to the house as one ninja of the group did every year. Gathering presents for twelve (fifteen in this case) is quite the feat.

"Well you're a whole two hours over my record last year, so I'm still better." Sakura boasted.

"It doesn't count if you throw the bag all the way from the wrapping store! You busted the chocolate bar-shaped iPod I got for Chouji, along with half of the other presents!" Ino retorted.

"That was an iPod? I thought it tasted weird…" said Chouji, who was munching on his egg-nog flavored potato chips and putting ornaments on the massive tree with Hinata and Sai.

"Forehead girl!" Ino yelled.

"Ino-pig!" Sakura yelled back.

"H-hey you two. Please stop fighting. I-it's Christmastime, isn't it?" Hinata tried to stop them.

"Is this normal for them?" asked Sai, still unfamiliar with human interaction.

"It doesn't have to be Christmas for them to start beating the crap out of each other." said Chouji.

"This physical contact must be a sign of friendship. Hey, Naruto!" Sai called.

"Oh, hell no! You stay away from me, you dick-obsessed weirdo!" Naruto called back from the other room.

"I'm just trying to show friendship!" Sai argued.

"Yeah? Well go be 'friendly' with Shino or something! You ain't comin' near me!"

"I guess he doesn't want to share contact right now." said Sai, with that famous smile of his.

"Tenten! That's all of the ornaments! Hit it!" called Chouji. He, Hinata, and Sai cleared the way. Tenten had lights coiled around either arm, and with remarkable precision, threw them so perfectly that they practically wrapped themselves around the Christmas tree. Then, she threw a single kunai, which broke a taut rope, that released an arrow, that struck a spring-loaded shuriken, that cut a string attached to a balloon, that lifted a ramp, that caused a bowling ball to roll down the ramp, that fired a mini-catapult, that ultimately lobbed the star of the tree (in the shape of Konoha's symbol) directly on to place at the top of the tree. The force of the star landing sent a shockwave down the tree, and put the plug into the socket, and the tree lit up in brilliant color and magnificence.

"Hell yeah! That's the best one we've done so far! It's all thanks to Sai's artistic ability!"

"It was nothing. I've always wanted to decorate something that looks like a—"

"Ok! We get it." Sakura stopped him before damage could be done. Then she noticed Gaara, still sitting on the couch in the living room blankly staring at his cup of hot chocolate.

"Gaara, why don't you come look at the tree?" she asked politely. Gaara didn't say a word, but reluctantly got up and stared at the tree, without any apparent amazement or awe. Neji had just finished the lights outside, alone, and just came in. After looking at the tree, he tried to examine the presents with his Byakugan.

"Ah-ah, Neji! I had them wrapped with lead foil, so no peeking!" said Ino. Neji quickly deactivated his Byakugan, and Hinata put down her hand seal and pretended she hadn't done anything. Shino turned on some holiday music and joined the others watching the tree, which had begun to rotate, thanks to Tenten's brilliant engineering of a tree rotator. This movement cast light all over the darkening room (night was falling), making it a sight truly wonderful to behold. Naruto entered and stood close to Hinata, who absent-mindedly began leaning on him. Shikamaru and Temari, although a little roughed up from their "adventure", emerged from Shikamaru's room holding hands and also stared at the tree. Kankuro and Kiba joined the group, and Ino grabbed Chouji's arm and together they took in the sight that everyone else was seeing. Neji hugged Tenten from behind and she took his hands in hers. They also gathered around the tree and stared. Lastly, Shino, Sai, and Sakura came in, and joined the group in amazement. This was Sai's first Christmas with friends.

Only Gaara stood relatively alone. No friends to talk to, no special ones around to hold. It was just him. Then, a light knocking came at the door. Everyone shifted their attention to the mystery guest all of a sudden.

"Oh! That must be her!" said Sakura, smiling. "Gaara, I know you feel kind of alone right now, but there's someone who really wants to see you, even though she's late."

Sakura opened the door fully, and standing in the doorway was a girl, in a magnificent crimson dress that flowed just like the ribbons adorning the entryway. Her medium-short brown hair was amazingly shiny, and styled into waves, which made them look almost like sand dunes. Gaara was awestruck.

"M-Matsuri." he stuttered.

"Merry Christmas, Gaara-kun." she replied with the most radiant smile in the world. That Christmas, sixteen friends found company, love, and the true meaning of the season.

* * *

Meanwhile, in Orochimaru's lair…

"But Sasuke-kun, you promised!" Orochimaru whined.

"Go screw yourself, you gay-ass pedophile! And get that damned mistletoe out of my face! I'm going to start my own secret organization that's in league with Akatsuki!"

Merry Christmas and happy holidays, everyone.


End file.
